The consortium behind the SEMIAH project aims to pursue a major technological, scientific and commercial breakthrough by developing a novel Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure for the implementation of Demand Response (DR) in households. This infrastructure enables the shifting of energy consumption from high energy-consuming loads to off-peak periods with high generation of electricity from Renewable Energy Sources (RES). The project's innovative approach is based on the development of an open ICT framework that will promote an environment for the deployment and innovation of smart grid services in households. A centralised system for DR service provisioning based on aggregation, forecasting and scheduling of electricity consumption will be developed. Furthermore, the project delivers a DR solution for control of electrical loads at a competitive price. The solution consists of a number of smart plugs that can be controlled over a home area network through a gateway connected to a wide area network. The consortium will integrate security and privacy functions to ensure that the system cannot be compromised. Finally, the consortium will develop new business models for electricity players and residential customers to quantify costs and benefits for players in the value chain. SEMIAH will provide benefits to residential customers, energy utilities and the society in general, through lower electricity bills, improved integration of RES and higher stability of the electricity grid. Hereby, the project will enable savings in CO2 emissions and fuel costs and reduce investments in electricity network expansions and electricity peak generation plants. The consortium of 12 partners from 4 different European countries, coming from ICT (Aarhus University, Centre Suisse D'Electronique et de Microtechnique, University of Agder and Haute Ecole Specialisee de Suisse Occidentale), Energy (Fraunhofer IWES, Agder Energi Nett, SEIC Teledis, EnAlpin, Misurio and Develco Products) and Telecommunications (Devoteam Solutions and netplus) jointly possess the technological skills and competencies needed to overcome the identified challenges and to drive this ambitious project to successful result.